


Injured but not Alone

by MythsAndMythos



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Hunting, Knights - Freeform, Prisoners, They always find trouble, but really just caring, can be taken as merthur
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-22
Updated: 2016-09-22
Packaged: 2018-08-16 14:56:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,608
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8106640
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MythsAndMythos/pseuds/MythsAndMythos
Summary: "well this is a nice change of scenery.""It's a prison cell.""I was being sarcastic."





	

Throbbing pain rippled across the back of Merlin’s head as he slowly regained consciousness. As he became aware of his pain he groaned and blinked at the dim light filtering into the room. Merlin dizzily hauled himself to an upright position and lean against the wall, noting the damp stone work and barred door which made up the small room. There was a little wooden bed jutting out from the far wall and sitting on it, irritation written across his face, was Arthur.

The prince was in common clothing, his hunting garb nowhere in sight, and he had his arms crossed while he scowled at the door. At Merlin’s groan however, Arthur’s attention was drawn to his injured manservant.

“Finally,” Arthur sighed loudly, disregarding the obvious headache Merlin was nursing. “I thought you were going to be out forever.”

“Where are we?” Merlin questioned hoarsely, squinting at the blonde. 

Rising from the bed, Arthur quickly crossed the limited space they were in and crouched beside Merlin. He gently cradled Merlin’s head and poked at his skull, noting the places that made Merlin hiss or wince in pain. 

“Well you don’t seem to be permanently injured.” Arthur declared, standing up and moving away. “Although a blow to your head might do you some good.”

“Hey!” Merlin yelped, only to scrunch his face at the pounding discomfort in his head caused by the loud noises. “Arthur, where are we? What happened?”

Arthur sighed and leant against the wall so he could keep both the door and Merlin’s crumpled frame in view. Even in his disoriented state Merlin could tell that they were in a prison cell, they’d certainly been in enough for him to recognize one, but the presence of only Arthur gave him hope that the knights had escaped. Either that or they were being held in another cell somewhere in this mysterious location. As he slowly adjusted to consciousness, Merlin began remembering the events that led them here.

Arthur had rallied the knights at dawn for a hunting trip, and of course Merlin was required to tag along as the prince’s personal manservant. The weather had improved from the constant rain of the week before, and both Arthur and the knights were stir crazy from being trapped inside. Merlin would much rather have let the men go out and kill what they wanted while he stayed home running errands for Gaius, but he knew Arthur had a penchant for getting in trouble and he needed to protect his prince.

They hunted for what seemed like hours to Merlin, and he took every opportunity to vocalize his displeasure. The trees had started blending together about an hour in and Merlin could have sworn they’d passed the same river repeatedly, he remembered because Leon fell in it the first time they tried to cross. Percival and Gwaine did their best to entertain the irritated manservant, but it was only Arthur’s threat of gagging him and tying him to a tree that caused his grumbles of unhappiness to stop. 

The hunt hadn’t even been that successful. There were nearly no animals in the area, which really should have tipped them off that something wasn’t right. Merlin was just starting to get suspicious when a blow to the head knocked him unconscious. 

Which led to where they were now, trapped in a prison cell with no way of escape. 

“Well, this is a nice change of scenery,” Merlin chirped when he finally remembered what had led them to this point.

Arthur was decidedly unamused by the injured man, “It’s a prison cell” he deadpanned.

“I was being sarcastic,” Merlin mumbled, picking at the stone floor he was resting on. “Although it does add some variety from the endless forest we were traipsing through before.”

Rolling his eyes at his manservant’s antics, Arthur gave up on his defensive stance and sat back down on the small bed when it was clear their captors weren’t coming back anytime soon. Merlin observed as Arthur rested his elbows on his bent knees and hung his head. The prince looked small like this, vulnerable outside of his armor and without any way to free them. 

“Hey,” Merlin scrambled to his feet and stumbled across the room to sit next to Arthur. The prince looked alarmed at Merlin’s actions and almost yelled at him to sit back down since he was clearly injured, but Merlin made it to his side before he could act. “The knights didn’t get captured, did they?”

Arthur looked at him for a long time before shaking his head. “No, they escaped. With any luck they’ve notified my father of the situation and he’s taking steps to get us back.”

Neither of them bothered to mention that Uther would only be bargaining for Arthur’s life, and Merlin would be an afterthought that Uther couldn’t care less about. 

Merlin gave Arthur’s shoulder a pat and leaned back on the bed so he could rest his dizzy head against the cold stone wall. Standing and walking had scrambled his brain and he just wanted the world to stop spinning. 

“Merlin,” Arthur whispered, his voice lacking the arrogant drawl he usually added to his manservant’s name. “I’m going to get you out of here, do you hear me? I’m going to get you to Gaius so he can look at that head of yours and make sure you haven’t been permanently damaged. I don’t think I could stand you if your stupidity increased.”

Merlin chuckled weakly and rolled his head so he could look at Arthur through lidded eyes. “I have the utmost faith in your ability to get us out of here.” His voice was full of sincerity, and Arthur’s gaze widened at the honesty reflected in Merlin’s own eyes. “Although, you’ll probably need my help.”

Arthur huffed and would have pushed Merlin off the bed if he wasn’t injured. As it was, the prince merely leaned back to observe his injured friend. “Come on Merlin,” he drawled, “I wouldn’t trust you to rescue yourself from the tavern, let alone a bandit prison in the middle of the forest.”

A throat clearing caused both prisoners to snap their gazes towards the door, although Merlin’s was much more lethargic than the alert prince. Standing on the other side of the bars was Gwaine, keys dangling from one hand while the other held a bloodied sword.

“If you two are done flirting princess, I think it’s about time we got you home.”

Arthur jumped up and immediately strode towards the door, any sign of defeat having vanished at the sight of his knight.

“Gwaine, where are the others? Did my father send you?” The commands were sharp and Merlin admired the authority Arthur was able to wield.

Gwaine seemed to understand that Arthur was in no mood for joking, and he wasted no time unlocking the door. “Percival and Leon are checking the building to make sure we’ve killed all the bandits and I believe Elyan has found your armor and sword in their makeshift treasury. It’s down that way,” he said, gesturing down the hall. “Turn left at the end of this passageway and it’s the third door on your right, can’t miss it. The king didn’t send us, we actually haven’t returned to Camelot yet. We spent the night tracking you and planning our siege of this little prison.” He ended with a cocky grin aimed at Arthur’s retreating back.

“You’re a sight for sore eyes,” Merlin sighed as Gwaine entered the cell and helped him up.

“I can imagine your eyes are pretty sore,” Gwaine grinned as he easily lifted Merlin’s weight so the slighter man was leaning on him like a crutch. “That was a nasty blow to the head you took.”

Merlin grimaced, head throbbing with every step. “It’s nothing Gaius can’t fix. I’m sure you all took some hits as well.”

Gwaine looked sheepish and wouldn’t quite meet Merlin’s eyes. “Well, there wasn’t much of a fight out in the forest, and it was more of a massacre when we tracked them here. You went down and Arthur immediately told us to run. Of course we didn’t want to leave him but he wouldn’t have it, said he wouldn’t leave you alone with them. We all knew that if we returned to Camelot without you Uther would leave you to die, but without Arthur there would be a rescue mission.”

The two made it to the door and outside into the sunlight which pierced Merlin’s brain and he futilely attempted to shield his eyes. “It’s none of my business, of course.” Gwaine continued. “But in my opinion, our prince just didn’t want to leave you injured and alone in the hands of the enemy. He really is quite protective of you, as much as he wants to deny it.”

Merlin hoped the blush that crossed his face would be attributed to his injury in some way, but Gwaine seemed to see right through that. “He would have done the same for any of you.” Merlin argued defensively.

“I don’t doubt it,” Gwaine agreed, “But he would have rescued us himself instead of being captured and taken into the heart of the enemy camp. It’s a completely different approach, you understand.”

Merlin looked away from the smug knight just in time to see Arthur emerge from the prison, newly dressed in his armor and eyes only for Merlin. Maybe Gwaine was right, maybe he wasn’t, but Merlin wasn’t going to question the bravery of his prince or the feelings associated with it, at least not until his head stopped beating against his skull.

**Author's Note:**

> come chat with me at mythsandmythos.tumblr.com


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